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After the installation of a major software update that enabled NASA's Curiosity Mars rover to drive faster and also reduced wear and tear on its wheels, the robot took stunning captures of the “Marker Band Valley” before leaving it behind.

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The postcard, showcasing the picturesque landscape from the red planet, is an artistic representation of what Mars looks like at different times of the day.

In a news release, NASA said that the panoramas captured by the robot were taken with black-and-white navigation cameras on April 8, 2023.

The colours were further added to the black-and-white panoramas with blue being added to the parts of the postcard clicked in the morning and yellow to the ones clicked in the afternoon.

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Further giving details of the postcard, NASA said that it shows several landmarks of Mars including "Marker Band Valley," where the rover discovered unexpected signs of an ancient lake and also two hills named "Bolivar" and "Deepdale".

Figure A is an annotated version of the postcard noting geographic features and elements of the rover.

“Anyone who’s been to a national park knows the scene looks different in the morning than it does in the afternoon,” said Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who planned and processed the images. “Capturing two times of the day provides dark shadows because the lighting is coming in from the left and the right, like you might have on a stage – but instead of stage lights, we’re relying on the Sun.”

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NASA further noted that the rover took the photos during winter time and that the shadows during that time of the year are deeper and darker as the dust levels in the Martian atmosphere are at their lowest. 

"Mars' shadows get sharper and deeper when there's low dust and softer when there's lots of dust," Ellison said.

New images of Mars raise questions over its redness

A new image of Mars is raising questions over its redness, and it looks like Mars isn't as red as we might have thought. 

The new mosaic of Mars has been released to mark 20 years since the launch of the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Mars Express, which is a spacecraft that has been orbiting the planet for two decades. 

Mars Express's High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC)'s data was used to create the mosaic. The image reveals the planet's colour and composition in spectacular detail... not so red. 

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On its website, ESA said that Mars appears in the night sky different from all the other gleaming dots in the darkness. Notably, the changing atmosphere of Mars has made it difficult to see all the colours on the planet from space in the past. 

In a post, ESA said that the "dust scatters and reflects light, causing colours to shift between images". The space agency said that when the mismatched pieces are put together, the result is usually patchy looking. 

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